Author: Sunfire

Mail.com

PROVO, Utah (AP) — Family members of a Utah woman sentenced to the maximum penalty Monday for killing six of her newborn babies said they were shocked at the grisly crimes from the woman they knew as a loving mother.

Her family painted 40-year-old Megan Huntsman as a shy, timid person who struggled with addiction and depression but was a good mother to her three other children. Judge Darold McDade sentenced Huntsman on Monday to up to life in prison in what prosecutors called indifferent and callous actions committed because she was too addicted to methamphetamine to care for more children during the decade when the babies were killed and stored in her garage.   Continue reading “Utah woman gets maximum sentence in deaths of 6 newborns”

Mail.com

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis on Tuesday accepted the resignation of a U.S. bishop who pleaded guilty to failing to report a suspected child abuser, answering calls by victims to take action against bishops who cover up for pedophile priests.

The Vatican said Tuesday that Bishop Robert Finn had offered his resignation under the code of canon law that allows bishops to resign early for illness or some “grave” reason that makes them unfit for office. It didn’t provide a reason; Finn is 62, some 13 years shy of the normal retirement age of 75.   Continue reading “Pope OKs resignation of US bishop for not reporting abuse”

RT

When a computer security expert from Denver tweeted some amusing remarks about hacking the onboard systems of his United Airlines flight, he didn’t know FBI agents would be waiting at his destination. Later, he was refused boarding to another flight.

Watch out what you tweet – or face the consequences! Chris Roberts, of One World Labs in Denver, has learnt that sharing knowledge in Twitter about how transport security systems operate is a bad idea.   Continue reading “US computer expert ‘grounded’ after playful plane security tweets”

Mail.com

2:35 p.m. (1235 GMT; 8:35 a.m. EDT)

British Prime Minister David Cameron has paused from campaigning for the general election to lash out at the traffickers behind the tragedy in the Mediterranean. “It is a very dark day for Europe, he said. “It really is horrific the scenes that we have all witnessed on our television screens, the loss of life.

“We should put the blame squarely with the criminal human traffickers who are the ones managing, promoting and selling this trade, this trade in human life.” Cameron said he believes in a comprehensive approach that deals with the instability in the countries involved.   Continue reading “The Latest: Cameron slams traffickers for loss of life”

Mail.com

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Six people have been arrested in two states in connection with a terrorism investigation in Minnesota, where authorities have been tracking youths who have traveled or tried to travel to Syria to fight with militants, including the Islamic State group, authorities said.

Ben Petok, a spokesman for the Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office, said the arrests were made Sunday in Minneapolis and San Diego and that there is no threat to public safety. He provided no information about charges.   Continue reading “Authorities: Terrorism probe yields 6 arrests in 2 states”

RT

Kids in low-income households lag behind their peers from wealthier families when it comes to standardized testing. Their brain anatomy could be a factor, with the research exposing a “cost to not living in a supportive environment.”

The researchers compared students’ scores on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) with brain scans of the most highly developed part of the human brain – the layer often referred to as “gray matter.” The cerebral cortex is responsible for thinking, perceiving, producing and understanding language.    Continue reading “Family income affects brain anatomy, test scores – MIT study”

RT

A rescue operation is under way after a boat carrying an estimated 700 migrants capsized in Libyan waters, 120 miles south off Lampedusa.

Twenty-eight people have been reported rescued, while a number of bodies have been washed ashore in Libya.

The migrants reportedly fell overboard when they ran to draw the attention of a passing vessel. The boat is said to have capsized at midnight.   Continue reading “700 feared dead as migrant boat capsizes off Libya”

Mail.com

CAIRO (AP) — Islamic State militants in Libya shot and beheaded groups of captive Ethiopian Christians, a video purportedly from the extremists showed Sunday. The attack widens the circle of nations affected by the group’s atrocities while showing its growth beyond a self-declared “caliphate” in Syria and Iraq.

The release of the 29-minute video comes a day after Afghanistan’s president blamed the extremists for a suicide attack in his country that killed at least 35 people — and underscores the chaos gripping Libya after its 2011 civil war and the killing of dictator Moammar Gadhafi.   Continue reading “IS video purports to show killing of Ethiopians in Libya”

Mail.com

DOVER, Del. (AP) — Three people were shot and injured Saturday night at a cookout on the Delaware State University campus, officials said, and authorities are searching for the shooter.

The shooting happened at about 8 p.m. at a university-sanctioned fraternity and sorority event, DSU spokesman Carlos Holmes said. Three people were taken to Kent General Hospital in Dover with injuries that were not life-threatening, Holmes told The Associated Press.   Continue reading “Officials: 3 shot, injured at Delaware State cookout”

RT

At least 33 people have been killed and more than 100 injured in a series of explosions in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, according to police and local media. ISIS has claimed responsibility.

A blast took place outside a local bank, police chief Fazel Ahmad Sherzad told Reuters.

The attacker was riding a motorbike and detonated his explosives while military personnel and civilians were waiting to receive their salaries from the bank, Sherzad said.   Continue reading “33 killed, 100 injured in Afghanistan blasts, ISIS claims responsibility”

Mail.com

SYDNEY (AP) — Five Australian teenagers were arrested Saturday on suspicion of plotting an Islamic State group-inspired terrorist attack at a Veterans’ Day ceremony that included targeting police officers, officials said.

The suspects included two 18-year-olds who are alleged to have been preparing an attack at the ANZAC Day ceremony in Melbourne later this month, Australian Federal Police Acting Deputy Commissioner Neil Gaughan told reporters.   Continue reading “Australia arrests 5 for alleged IS-inspired terror plot”

Mail.com

LYNNWOOD, Wash. (AP) — A tractor-trailer carrying millions of honeybees overturned on a highway north of Seattle early Friday, scattering hives and sending white-suited beekeepers scrambling to save as many insects as they could.

The truck had just merged onto Interstate 5 around 3:30 a.m. when it tipped on its side, dumping its load of 448 hives, or about 13.7 million bees, Washington State Patrol Trooper Travis Shearer said. The driver, a 36-year-old man from Idaho, was not hurt.   Continue reading “Highway abuzz with millions of bees after big truck tips”

Mail.com

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — A natural gas pipeline explosion at a California sheriff’s gun range shot flames well over 100 feet into the air, left 11 people injured and brought traffic on a busy highway to a halt, authorities and witnesses said.

The explosion on a Pacific Gas & Electric Co. pipe happened at the Fresno County Sheriff’s gun range while an equipment operator was using a front-loader to build a dirt berm to confine gunfire to the range, the sheriff’s department said. A group of county jail inmates were doing cleanup work nearby and most were injured in the blast.   Continue reading “Gas-line blast at California shooting range injures 11”

RT

Aldermen approved a $5 million settlement to be granted to the family of a teen shot 16 times by Chicago police last October, but insisted on keeping the dashboard camera footage of the shooting away from the public.

The City Council voted 47-0 on Wednesday to pre-empt a federal lawsuit by paying the family of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, shot by a Chicago police officer on October 20, 2014. Legal counsel for the city Stephen Patton told reporters that lawyers for the family initially sought $16 million.   Continue reading “Chicago pays $5 million to family of teen shot 16 times by police, but withholds video”

Mail.com

SEATTLE (AP) — A 911 dispatcher seemed understandably confused by the call from a baggage handler who fell asleep inside the cargo hold of an Alaska Airlines jet bound for Los Angeles and said he needed someone to stop the plane.

“I’m inside a plane, and I feel like it’s moving in the air. Flight 448. Can you please have somebody stop it?” the airport worker said in a recording of the call made on Monday. The recording was released Thursday.   Continue reading “Dispatcher puzzled by 911 call from trapped baggage worker”

Mail.com

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A Coast Guard cutter arrived Thursday in San Diego with more than 14 tons of cocaine, part of what authorities described as a surge of seizures near Central and South America.

The cocaine, valued by the Coast Guard at $424 million, was seized by U.S. and Canadian forces in 19 separate incidents in the eastern Pacific Ocean near Central and South America. It included a 10½-ton bust from a coastal freighter, the largest maritime drug interdiction in that area since 2009.   Continue reading “Coast Guard cutter arrives in US with 14 tons of cocaine”

Mail.com

PHOENIX (AP) — Five adults were found dead inside a Phoenix home after a shooting in a suspected dispute over the family’s business, police said.

Police said Thursday the three men were brothers and the dead women apparently were the men’s mother and a spouse of one of the brothers. Two other women and two children managed to escape the home unharmed.   Continue reading “Police say 5 adults found dead inside Phoenix home”

RT

Beachgoers in a northern suburb of San Diego received a surprise visit by a US Marine helicopter, which made an emergency landing on Wednesday morning.

According to local media, a CH-53 Super Stallion helicopter landed at Solana Beach, about 24 miles north of downtown San Diego. The emergency landing was reportedly due to a fuel leak.   Continue reading “Marine chopper lands at San Diego beach”

Mail.com

DETROIT (AP) — An imprisoned hit man has signed a chilling affidavit taking responsibility for four murders at a Detroit drug house in a renewed effort to free a young man who pleaded guilty to the same killings at age 15, attorneys said Wednesday.

Davontae Sanford was just 14, illiterate and blind in one eye when he walked up to police at the murder scene in 2007 and immediately became a suspect. He eventually pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sent to prison, but a new legal team from two law schools wants the conviction thrown out.   Continue reading “Detroit hit man says he, not teen, responsible for 4 deaths”